Liquid fuel saving and safety device



March 1 1927.

J. SCHEMINGER. JR

LIQUID FUEL SAVING AND SAFETY DEVICE Filed Aug. 18, 1923 is adapted by Patented Mar. 1, 1927.

"UNITED STATES" PATE T OFFICE.

JOHN SGI-IEMINGER, JR., OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR TO AETNA AUTOMATIC OIL BURNER, INCORPORATED, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A. CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

LIQUID FUEL SAVING AND SAFETY DEVICE.

Application filed August 18, 1923. Serial No. 658,147.

This invention relates to liquid fuel or rotary oil burners used in furnaces and boiler fire boxes, and more particularly to a liquid fuel saving and safety device for electrically controlling rotary oil or other liquid fuel burners.

The main object of the invention is to provide a simple, inexpensive, efficient and reliable liquid fuel saving and safety device for burners of the character referred to havreceptacle. or pan into which fuel is conducted and which the weight of the fiuidthere in to automatically empty its contents and simultaneously open the electric circuit through which power is applied to the motor for actuating the burner, when the liquid fuel in such receptacle rises to asuflicrent height to cause the receptacle to t lt, thereby opening or breaking the electric circuit, the receptacle being adapted to be restored to normal position by simply raising the free unbalanced end-portion of the receptacle by hand.

The invention will first be hereinafter more particularly described, with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are to be taken. as a part of this specification, and then'pointedout in the claims at the end of the description. In said drawings, Fig. lis a plan view of a broken away portion of the fuel feeding system of a hydrocarbon or rotary oilbu'rner, illustrating the application of my inventi-on to apparatus of the character referred to; and

Fig. 2 the same.

. Referring to said drawings, in which the same reference characters are used to denote corresponding parts in different views, the letter A denotes a supporting base forming a part of an apparatus to which my invening a tilting waste liquid is a verticalsectional elevation of I tion is applied and which base is formed or provided with an opening surrounded by a depending flange a, in which opening 7 is placed a liquid fuel receptacle, bucket, or pan B, which ispivotally supported near oneend within said opening and has pivoted thereto atan intermediate point one end of a link C, the other end of which'is pivoted to aswitch lever D which projects from a switch or contact device "placed in a suitable housing or enclosure E and included in the electric circuit, said circuit including an electric motor (not shown) for imparting motion to a rotary oil burner or other motor driven device forming a part of an apparatus to which my invention may be applied. Preferably the bottom of the drip-pan or bucket B is rearwardlv and upwardly inclined as at b, and the inclined portion is arranged underneath an outlet opening f, in the bottom of an oil receiving chamber F mounted upon the supporting burner is discharged through a port in its bottom into said receptacle, and that said extended portion of the receptacle is normally supported by means of the link and switch lever D connected therewith, while the shorter weighted end of the receptacle counterbalances its extended free end portion, so that the receptacle may be easily tilted to empty its contentsand open the electric circuit when the weight of the fuel therein over-balances the counterweight, and by simply raising the free unweighted end of the receptacle it may be restored to normal position for again automatically opening the electric circuit and emptying its contents. The oil chamber F contains a strainer G- which, as shown, is of angular form enlarged toward the inlet end thereof which is in communication with a pipe or conduit H, into which waste liquid fuel from the burner is conducted, passing therefrom into and through the strainer G and thence into said receptacle B. The drip-pan or receptacle has a counterbalance or weight b on its pivoted end, and as the liquid in said receptacle rises to a predetermined height, or to a point at which the weight is sufficient to depress the free end of the receptacle and lift the weighted end or countel-balance b the receptacle will be tilted, causing its free end to dro down into the position indicated in dotte lines in Fig. 2 of the drawin s, and through its connection with the switc 1 lever will shift the position of the latter so as to break the electric circuit and thus stop the operation of the motor until the drip-pan is again restored to normal position, and through its connection with the switch lever again closing the electric circuit so as to start the motor. The contents of the tilting receptacle may be emptied directly into a waste fuel tank I resetting of the receptacle, which may be ac eomplished manually, thus placing the device under the control of an attendant, automatically closes the electric circuit. thus starting the motor. The surplus oil, before entering the tilting receptacle, is caused to pass through a strainer, which clears it of all sediment or carbonaceousmatter, so that it is in suitable condition to be returned directly to the storage tank or source from which it came, or it may be conducted into a separatereceptacle. Thus provision is made for not only utilizing surplus or waste oil as a safety agent, but also for cleansing and returning the oil to the storage tank, thus effecting a p actical economy in the operation of rotary oil burners or the like.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:-

1. A fuel saving and safety device for electrically controlled liquidfuel burners, comprising an unbalanced liquid fuel receptacle pivotally supported near one end; said end being weighted and the receptacle having a free end portion of much greater length than said weighted end extending from its pivotal support and terminating in a rearwardly and upwardly inclined portion underlying a discharge port in a superposed fuel receiving chamber, an electric circuit including a switch or contact device and a switch-lever projecting therefrom toward said receptacle, a link pivoted at one end to said extended free end portion of said receptacle and having its other end pivoted to said snatch-lever; said link and switchlever being adapted to support the extended end portion of the receptacle, and a counterstantiall balance on the short end of said receptacle, whereby the receptacle is adapted to be automatically tilted by the weight of the fuel therein and to empty itself and simultaneously break the electric circuit.

2. In a liquid fuel burner, a supporting base having an opening therein and an oil receiving chamber arranged over said opening; said chamber having a discharge port in its bottom, a liquid fuel receptacle within said opening having a weight on one end and pivotally supported near said end and having an extended free end portion of much greater length than its weighted end, an electric motor-circuit including a switch or contact device, a switch-lever projecting from said switch toward said receptacle, a link pivoted at oneend to said switch-lever and having its other end pivoted to the extended free end portionof said receptacle, and a conduit leading from the burner into said oil receiving chamber, whereby said receptacle is adapted to be tilted by the weight of the fuel therein and to automatically empty itself and break the electric circuit.

In a liquid fuel burner having a supporting base provided with an opening therein, an oil chamber mounted on said base over said opening and having a discharge port in its bottom, an unbalanced liquid fuel receptacle within said opening pivoted near one end and having an extendedfree end portion of much greater length than its other end; said extended free end portion being arranged under the discharge port in said oil chamber, a conduit through which waste liquid fuel from the burner is conducted into said chamber, an electric motor-circuit including a switch or contact device and a switch-lever projecting therefrom toward said receptacle, a link connecting the extended free end portion of said receptacle with said switch lever, and a counterbalance on the short end of said receptacle, whereby wasteliquid fuelfiowing into said receptacle will overbalance said weight and cause the receptacle to tilt and empty itself and simultaneously break the electric circuit.

4C. In a liquid fuel saving and safety device for electrically controlledjliquid fuel burners, an unbalanced liquid fuel receptacle fulcrurned near one end and having an extended free end portion of much greater length than its other end, thelatter being weighted, means for conducting waste liquid fuel from the burner into said receptacle, a link pivoted at one end to a switch-lever included in a normally closed electric circuit and having its other end pivoted to the extended free end portion of said receptacle so as to su port the latter normally in a suborizontal position, whereby said receptac e is adapted to be tiltedto empty its contents and automatically open the electric circuit when the weight of the liquid fuel therein over-balances its weighted end.

5. A liquid fuel saving and safety device for electrically controlled rotary oil and other liquid fuel burners, comprising a tilting receptacle pivotally supported near one end and provided at said end with a weight or counterbalance, a conduit leading from the burner to said receptacle, an electric switch for controlling the electric circuit, whereby the supply of fuel to the burner is maintained, a shifting switch lever having an adjustable weight or counterbalance thereon, said lever being adapted in different positions to make and break the electric circuit, a link having one end pivated to said lever between its fulcrum and weighted end and the other end thereof pivoted to said receptacle between its pivotal support and its free end, whereby said receptacle will be automatically tilted to empty its contents when filled to the desired extent and said lever automatically shifted so as to break the electric circuit.

6. A safety device for electrically controlled liquid fuel burners comprising an oblong receptacle having a weighted end and pivotally supported near said end so that the major part thereof is between its other end and said pivot, means for conducting excess or waste fuel into said receptacle, a switch lever pivotally supported at one end and adapted in normal position to close the electric circuit and carrying a weight on its free end, and a link having one end pivoted to said switch lever and its other end pivoted to said major part of said receptacle, whereby the accumulation of liquid fuel in said receptacle will overbalance its weighted end and cause the receptacle to tilt and shift the position of said switch lever so as to break the electric cir cuit.

7. A safety device for electrically controlled liquid fuel burners comprising an oblong receptacle having a weighted end and pivotally supported near said end so that the major part thereof is between its other end and said pivot, a conduit through which excess or waste fuel is conducted into said receptacle, a switch lever pivotally supported at one end and adapted in normal position to close the electric circuit, said lever carrying a weight on its free end, and a link pivoted at one end to said switch lever and having its other end-pivoted to said major part of said receptacle, whereby the accumulation of liquid fuel in said receptacle will overbalance its weighted end and cause the receptacle to tilt and shift the position of said switch lever so as to break the electric circuit.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

JOHN SCHEMINGER, J R. 

